Efren
Eng. 1A
Professor Rogers
09/25/2012
The Last Day
June 4, 2010. Although this was a normal day for many people around
the world, for me it was the most exciting, nerve racking and anticipated day
of my life. It was my last day as a high school student at Pioneer High and perhaps
the first day of a new beginning in my life.
The Friday morning of June 4, was full of finals for freshmen, sophomores
and juniors but for senior students like me it was the most exciting morning of
our life. We were graduating from high school and we were outside on the
football field practicing for the ceremony. I was learning how to walk, in
which direction to walk, and how to stand up from a chair for the big moment
later that day in my graduation ceremony. As we were practicing and taking
pictures with our friends, the weather was horrible. The sky was gray; there
was no sun at all; it was cold; the wind was blowing, and last but not least, a
few drops of water were falling. It was a total disaster. For us, as graduates,
it was like Hurricane Katrina was about to hit the football stadium in the most
important day of our life. Meanwhile, our class teacher was giving us two
tickets for the event that would take place in the gymnasium in case it would
rain later that day. As we were receiving the tickets, we all started to freak
out because we did not want to have such an important event inside in a small gymnasium
where only a few hundred people could fit. The only thing that we could do was
to wait until the afternoon hoping that the weather would get better.
After practicing for about three hours my friends and I were ready to
go home and get ready for the big event. As soon as I got home I started to get
ready, I took a shower and while I was in the shower all those things that I
was practicing during the morning were going through my head. I was thinking to
myself, "What if I do something wrong or what if I fall on the middle of
the field. Everyone is going to laugh at me." I was totally freaked out.
At the same time, I was super nervous. The very idea that I had to walk around the
football field while hundreds of people were looking and staring at me made me
even more nervous. My head and my mind were like a tornado mood, spinning with all types
of ideas and worst case scenarios that could happen to me during the graduation
ceremony. After I got out of the shower, I started to get ready. I put on my
black dress pants, my gold formal shirt, my tie (which was difficult to put on),
my black vest and lastly my dress shoes. Then, it was time to do my hair. As I
looked at myself in the mirror I was thinking, "This is it, I look good
and I'm ready to have a date with the entire school, now it is time to go and
show the world that I'm ready for the challenges."
On my way to school, the sun was coming out slowly. The horrible, gray
and ugly clouds that were blocking the sun during the morning were a snail, moving
slowly away from the city and suddenly disappearing from sky. After I was in
the parking lot, I quickly walked into the theater where all seniors were meeting
for the last time inside the school. As I entered the theater, everyone was finishing
getting ready. At that moment I felt like I was in a dressing room, everyone
was talking so loudly. Some girls were sitting on the chairs finishing their makeup,
while some boys were standing up trying to get their ties done and others were
just sitting moving their legs impatiently and waiting for the moment to come.
As I looked around I could see and feel the happiness and the excitement we were
all experiencing during those moments of tension.
Then our class teacher gave us the signal-- it was time to put our
caps and gowns. The girls wore shiny white and the guys were dressed in a shiny
black caps and gowns. Then we started to form a line in order to make our way
out from the theater and into the football field. As we walked into the field,
all of us were screaming and clapping. I personally, was shaking and feeling
more nervous than ever, since I was several meters away from the football field.
On the other side were the benches of the stadium field, and I was able to see
and hear the hundreds of people who were waiting for us. The class of 2010.
As we entered into the stadium a song started playing and suddenly the
crowd was screaming, clapping and going crazy and all those nerves and concerns
that I had disappeared from my mind. As I walked into the field I was trying to
look for my family and friends, but it was impossible to find them between
those hundreds of people. The only thing that I was able to see were signs,
flashes of cameras around the stadium and a lot of balloons flying over the sky.
It was an amazing sensation. For those moments that I walked around the field I
felt like a rockstar, or like a famous person from Hollywood, making an
appearance on the red carpet. Otherwise, I was not able to see my family in the
crowd. I felt very special because out of those hundreds of people that were in
the audience screaming, only a couple of dozens of people (my family and
friends) were there to scream my name and support me in one of the biggest and most
important event of my life.
Finally, after I walked through the football field for the last time, it
was time to sit on the chairs, in the middle of the stadium. Then the principal
told us to stand up and join in singing the national anthem of the United
States of America. As I stood up, I started to look around me. In front of me,
the flags of the state of California and the United States were weaving with
the help of the wind. As I looked to my right and left there were those people
with whom I laughed, cried and I argued. Those people were and are my friends with
whom I spent, shared and lived good and bad times during my high school years. As
I continued to look around, I was not only able to see the blue and beautiful sky
but also hundreds of people setting in the benches of the stadium. Then I thought
to myself, “Who knew that this day would come, on the morning it was raining,
no people were here, the benches were empty and wet, the wind was blowing, it
was lonely. I felt like I was in a in the middle of the commentary and now look;
it is a party, a celebration of the end of a new beginning.” Towards the end of
the anthem when people started to scream I got the chills and I started to
realize that it was the end of my senior year.
When we finished singing the anthem, we took
our seats. Then a few students, who spoke another language other than English,
(Spanish, Punjabi, Korean, Portuguese, Mandarin) welcomed the audience with a "Hello, and welcome to the celebration
of graduation of the class of 2010.” As every student spoke
in their native language the audience started to scream. It was a special
moment for those in the audience for whom English is not our first language. Then
the principal, the class president, and the class teacher gave their speeches,
which I do not remember at all because I was distracted by all the balls and
corn/flour tortillas that were flying over our gowns. They were like boomerangs;
flying from one side to another. Some teachers that were sitting next to us
were running into the balls trying to catch them, but it was impossible because
the students were hitting the balls from one side to another so the teachers
weren’t able to catch them. Even though it was disrespectful from us (the
graduates), not only was it funny to see our professors running after the balls,
it fun to hit the balls and saved them from the teachers. It was an amazing
time, even though it lasted for only a few minutes. The public was laughing and
at the end of the day it was funnies part of the ceremony.
Then
it was the time to receive my diploma, as the high school counselors called out
the names of every single student in front of me, the audience was screaming
for them. I was nervous because in my head there were those thoughts of, “What
if no one screams when the counselors mention my name, or what happen if the
crowd screams louder for the guy/girl that is in front of me and no one can
hear my name.” I was really nervous but above all I was excited because it was
the moment that I was waiting for every day and since the beginning of my
freshman year.
Suddenly it was my
turn, I stepped into the ramp, my left hand was holding tightly to the rail and
with my right hand I gave the card that had my full name to the counselor so he
could read it out loud on the microphone. As I was receiving my diploma, out of
nowhere I heard my name and also the crowd screaming, yelling and clapping for
me. My friends and family did a good job. I was impressed by how loudly they
screamed.
Finally,
when all the students received their diploma, it was time for the “Tassel
Ceremony." This symbolizes the transition from a high school student to a
graduate student. In order to complete the standard
protocol, students, must move
their tassel from the right side of the gown to the left side. As the high
school principal said, “Please move your tassel to the left side of your gown”
and we were moving our tassel, the principal said, “Please give a round of
applause to the Class of 2010.” The audience started to scream and clap while
the song “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus started to play. At that moment, some
students started to cry, to hug each
other, and others to throw theirs gowns into the air, as a way to celebrate
that end of our last day as Senior
students at Pioneer High School.
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